South Africans keen on buying or selling property, should be aware of their rights in relation to the voetstoots clause. Now, voetstoots is as South African as Oom Schalk’s Peach Brandy – but what does it mean and what bearing does it have on the purchase of your new home, besides the babelas from unexpected charges or costly legal battles?
What is Voetstoots?
Voetstoots refers to a sale in which the seller is freed from all responsibility for the condition of the goods being sold. This has been the status quo of the buyer-seller relationship in South African property sales for centuries.
What About the Consumer Protection Act?
However, there are some new rulings from the Consumer Protection Act or CPA specifically with the voetstoots clause in mind. If a sale is subject to the CPA, then, someone buying a property has the right to receive it in a condition that is free from defect and the seller cannot fall back on a voetstoots clause to avoid being held liable for any defects in the property. Accordingly, sellers of property that have serious undisclosed defects will no longer be able to rely on the voetstoots clause in actions instituted against them by a buyer, unless they have specifically informed the buyer of the defects in question or it can be proved that they were unaware of the defect at the time of the sale being transferred.
Be Upfront, Seller
The onus then rests upon the seller who relies upon a voetstoots clause to prove they were unaware of the defect in question. The buyer, however, has the added burden of proving that the seller was aware of a latent defect at the time of the transfer of the sale. In addition, the buyer has a six month timeframe, to require the seller to either fix any defect in the property or refund a reasonable portion of the purchase price to the purchaser, with regard to that defect requiring fixing.
Be Awake, Buyer
With this in mind, it becomes critical for home owners to be very aware of the state of their property before selling and never to accept an offer to purchase before getting an expert in to thoroughly survey the property. Similarly, prospective buyers need to conduct research on the property they intend to buy beforehand, even to the extent of becoming informed, via the Deeds Office, of information relating to the initial bond and the history of the property.
As an online estate agency, Homefair.co.za is uniquely poised to assist with your property purchase or sale. Our professional team will organise the complete transaction, from free property valuations to vetting potential buyers and viewings. Homefair will make sure your property is showcased with major property portal websites and will provide this quality service at a fraction of the cost of traditional estate agents.